"Wait, did you see that flicker? Did you get it to do something?"
"What?"
Regina snaps distractedly, her eyes trained on the packet of candy corn and her lip curling back to show her teeth when the blonde tosses it carelessly to the side.
"You didn't just see something happen with the screen?"
Emma frowns, and Regina splays her palms in a parody of confusion, supposing that her clueless meddling with the keyboard might have actually kicked something into gear. With the screen still blank, it seems to have just been a momentary flash of success, and so she keeps her charade up as she goes back to tapping mindlessly at the keys.
"You're bail bonds. Shouldn't you know how to work a computer?"
She accuses, recalling Emma's apparent expertise upon one of their first meetings when she'd gleaned Henry's whereabouts from his laptop."
"I know how to work a computer, I don't know how to fix one. I'm generally too busy to need to bother with that shit."
The younger woman hisses irritably, before thinning her lips as she demands coolly
"How do you know I work bail, anyway?"
"They mentioned it when they sent me out to help."
Regina replies dismissively; not knowing who on earth 'they' might be, but that's okay because it seems Emma does as she nods her acceptance of this explanation.
Nipping at the tip of her tongue as she glances over at the discarded candy corn bag, Regina tries to get them talking again in the hopes that the younger woman might be tempted to snack and chat as has always seemed her preferred way of doing things.
How you stay looking like that is beyond me...
But it's not really. She's fought alongside Emma, fled with her, sparred with her, and has seen the blonde slip from between the trees with her cheeks ruddy and hair a mess, and she knows the younger woman's physique has been earned just as much as her own has been.
In vastly different ways!
Yes, whereas sensible choices and self-restraint are her chosen methods of maintaining the appearance she desires, the Sheriff appears to adhere to a more chaotic way of living- as has always been her way- and oscillates between gluttony and masochistically gruelling exercise to achieve a similar goal.
Well, it has always been Miss Swan's way to make a relatively simple task infinitely more challenging than it needs to be.
A small, secretive smirk as she supposes their end goal isn't entirely the same, and she has to admit, she appreciates the results of the blonde's frenetic efforts.
Best leave that topic of thought before it gets complicated.
She warns herself swiftly with an uneasy clearing of her throat and she makes an attempt to get the younger woman talking again while privately scolding herself for veering off on a rather concerning tangent.
"Your phone buzzed, by the way. I think you received a message."
"Oh."
Emma reaches for her cell and opens up the text with the use of her thumbprint. Scanning the message briefly, she rolls her eyes and slides her cell back towards the corner.
"Nothing important. Just a terrible offer I'm not even going to dignify with a response."
She grins, before catching the darker woman's politely confused frown and deciding to elaborate; not ordinarily overly chatty with those she doesn't know, but for some reason, the conversation seems to be flowing smoothly and she supposes she's in no hurry for the brunette to succeed in her task and leave her be.
"One of the guys that's helping out, Ryan, wants to switch with me to get a break from the frontline of kids arguing about their age and whatever else. He should know me well enough to know that's an offer I'm going to leave well alone!"
"Oh. Is he a partner? A colleague?"
"Not really, not a colleague. I don't tend to work well with others, and it would totally mess with my allure, as you put it, to have some dude joining me for faux dates... Unless the mark was into that, I guess."
"I meant as back-up, not at the table sipping wine..."
"Oh, well, the same answer still applies. I've never really done the whole back-up deal as I don't tend to work bigger stings. I work solo, and I like my perps solo. As for 'partner', I guess that was true in a way for a little while, but nothing to do with the job."
Emma shrugs, before wrinkling her nose as she fiddles with a loose thread on the seam of her jeans.
"It was a very little while. Ryan's a good guy, but he's an attorney, and I guess I don't need to say much more than that."
"An attorney..."
Regina muses, not knowing whether the blonde needs to say more or not as she has no clue what she might be getting at, but she doesn't really care. Recalling her conversation with the man in the knitted cap helping to lug fake bodies into the house, she raises a brow as she asks
"Is he who I spoke to earlier? Tall and wearing a hat?"
"Wow, what a compelling description... But, yeah. Probably."
"That isn't awkward?"
The brunette asks, inwardly confused why she's suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable- a little bemused- finding out that the younger woman has indeed dated during her absence.
Fooled around at the very least... Maybe no wine and dinner as she didn't specify, but I'm sure there was 'dessert'...
"It would only be awkward if we made it that way, and I don't think either of us ever felt strongly enough to bother doing that. It's not like we were properly an item anyway.
Emma explains coolly, confirming the Mayor's suspicions, and the darker woman frowns as she suffers a strange, untoward feeling in her stomach and pushes it firmly away.
Why on earth should I care?
She doesn't. Not really. She's just always found herself a little irritable when addressing the topic of the blonde's love life.
Well, it's only reasonable after what happened with Graham.
Entirely reasonable, although a small part of her can't help but feel that the jealousy she harbours whenever thinking about the subject isn't directed where it should be.
Where it makes sense for it to be directed.
Towards who it should be directed.
I was angry at her, yes, but I was jealous of Graham, and it bothered me- confused me- that it should be that way around.
Thinning her lips as she glances surreptitiously to her side, she drinks in messy curls and the familiar nicks and freckles decorating the blonde's face with a sigh.
"Well, I don't think I could organise something like this alongside someone I was no longer seeing. Whether it had been casual or not."
She muses.
"Hmm, well I doubt you're the sort for that, anyway."
Emma shrugs, raising a brow when her statement is met with a frown.
"And on what exactly are you basing that assumption?"
Regina demands, sounding really quite annoyed which lends the blonde a small smile.
"Nothing, of course, so don't take it to heart. All I meant was that you don't seem like the kind of woman people would want anything casual with."
"Well, that's-"
"-I mean, if it was me, I wouldn't."
"I-"
"-I'm not much into the dating thing, whereas you strike me as a wine and candlelit dinner kind of person, but I can appreciate something worth having and I'd be inclined not to be quite so irresponsible as to let it slip through my fingers. Sometimes you just get a feeling about someone, you know?"
"... Do you?"
"Mm... Anyway, it was meant as a compliment, but someone should probably tell your face."
"It wasn't the easiest line of affirmation to follow!"
"Ha! No, I'm not good at that, I'll admit."
"... Evidently.
Regina agrees, feeling much more flattered than she'd care to admit, and she swallows as she reminds herself what she's here for and that she has spent an inordinate amount of effort trying to make the woman sitting beside her as miserable as possible.
Your disgust for her is a well-honed talent!
It's also entirely false and has been since day one. She knows this, but it has always been somewhat of a sport for her to loudly comment on the aspects of Emma's existence she claims to find repulsive, and it's not as though their relationship has ever lent her a reason to offer up a more truthful admission of what she might think.
That goes both ways...
It does, which is why Emma's suggestion that she sees her worth, even if only superficially- especially superficially- has thrown her very much off guard.
Not to mention, her suggestion was a little, well... Suggestive!
"You better get back to trying to fix that thing, or I'm going to be in trouble..."
The blonde interrupts her uneasy musing, and Regina notes both the pause after the younger woman's statement, and a definite note of regret at putting an end to their dangerous conversation.
"I suppose so."
She agrees, fiddling with the keys once again with plans to bring the monitor to life once she's made sure that there's no further unlikely flattery coming her way.
After all, it would be a shame to miss out.
A small smirk touches the corners of her lips before Emma catches her by surprise as she loses her patience and suggests
"Maybe it's the cameras themselves. Do they need a certain setting or something to feed into the system?"
"I... Maybe."
Regina replies cluelessly, before assuring confidently
"It doesn't matter, I think I'm almost there. It will be fine."
"I still think you should go check. I mean, we've been messing around here for ages, and nothing's worked. No offence, but whatever you're doing doesn't seem to be helping, so maybe go look at the cameras."
"Why me?"
The brunette frowns, earning herself a comically similar expression as Emma's brow furrows and she reasons slowly as though talking to a moron
"Because that's your job..."
"... Exactly, and I think I'm almost there."
The Mayor insists, but when the younger woman sighs irritably, she weighs up her options and decides that taking a breather from the strange tension between them isn't the worst idea in the world.
It would be a wise move to dispel some of that absurd electricity before Miss Swan remembers who she is- who you are- and demands an awkward conversation!
True, although she knows Emma would never do such a thing.
Has never done such a thing.
After all, it's not the first time we've found ourselves confused and flustered.
No, but she doesn't dare take that thought any further, and so pushes herself up from her chair to obey the younger woman's request in pointlessness.
I just need a moment...
"Fine, I'll take a look."
She agrees, stalking for the door with an arrogant toss of her hair.